[CHARLES I].

THE PRICES OF SPANISH AND FRENCH WINE

[CHARLES I]. A Proclamation for the Prizing of Wines.

London, Robert Barker, 20 January 1634 [1635].

£2,500.00

FIRST EDITION. Wide folio. 2 unnumbered ll., unbound. Black letter. Charles I’s woodcut arms at head of fol.1, decorated initials and ornaments. Entirely untrimmed, traces of central horizontal fold, light age yellowing, the odd minor mark, contemporary ms docket to verso of fol.2. An excellent copy.

An excellent, remarkably clean copy of the first edition of this royal proclamation on wine prizes for the year 1635, issued by Charles I. Such documents, eminently ephemeral, were printed to be hung on display and were later discarded, hence their rarity. ‘By the mid-C17 a great diversity of wines was being imported into England, in particular […] wines from areas where viticulture had previously never existed, such as the Canary Islands […], as a response to political instability’ (Unwin, p.232). The original edict, approved on 28 December 1634, ordered the maximum wholesale and retail prices for Spanish and French wines, i.e., Canary, Muscadels, Alligant [tint Alicant], Mallegoes, Gascoigne, Rochelle, Sacks (fortified wines), and other ‘small and thin wines’. The present Proclamation made that edict legal throughout the kingdom after allowing enough time for the information to have reached those ‘such as inhabit in remote parts of the Realm’, who could previously have been excused for not being aware of the new law. These prices had to be observed ‘in all his [Majesty’s] Ports and other places within this Realm where Wines are landed, and within ten miles of those Ports and places’. If the abovementioned wines were transported by land- carriage, additional fees, specified in the Proclamation, could be added to those prices for every 30 miles of travel. ‘Consumption of imported goods such as wine was a marker of status. Wine could not readily be produced in England: moreover, wine was semi-perishable. The costs of transport and storage meant that wine was likely to be relatively expensive. Because the rich spent money on wine, it came to be associated with […] conspicuous consumption. It was not just, how matter of display. Wine was believed to be good for one’s health’ (Hori, p.1458). Wine was only sold in caskets, by law from 1638, and later bottled by the owner after purchase. (A ‘butler’, or ‘bottler’, was originally the servant in the house in charge of wines and liquors.) An interesting document, providing invaluable information for economic historians.

This edition not recorded in the US. Only BL and Bodleian copies in the UK. STC (2nd ed.) 9031; ESTC S123770; Steele, 1691. M. Hori, ‘The Price and Quality of Wine and Conspicuous Consumption in England 1646-1759\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\', EHR, 123 (2008), pp.1457-69; P.T.H. Unwin, Wine and the Vine (1996).
Stock Number: L4212 Category: